Legendary Entertainment’s live-actionStreet Fightermovie recently lined up a premiere date, and now it has a director in place. And hey, ifThe Eric Andre Show‘s Kitao Sakurai can’t entertain us with his spin on Capcom’s classic fighter, who can?
Sakurai—known for writing, directing, and producingThe Eric Andre Show, as well as directing episodes ofTwisted Metal—has been tapped to direct (viaThe Hollywood Reporter). Legendary is co-producing along with Capcom, and Sony previously set its premiere for July 16, 2025.
As for what aspects of theStreet Fighterseries the movie aims to tackle, those details have yet to be divulged. Will Sakurai get a chance to cover more recent hits likeStreet Fighter 6, or will this be the ultimate redemption arc for a well-aged Guile by way of Jean-Claude Van Damme?
Takin’ it to the streets
The newStreet Fightermovie wasconfirmed back in April 2023. At the time, twin Australian filmmaker duo Danny and Michael Philippou (Talk to Me) were in talks to direct.
Of course, one would be remiss not to mention the original 1994 live-actionStreet Fighteras much as possible in any related article. While historically maligned as a failure, the endlessly entertaining work of art starred the aforementioned Van Damme as Guile opposite Raul Julia in a powerful turn as M. Bison. Don’t listen to anyone who says writer and director Steven E. de Souza’s feature is anything other than a classic example of pure game-inspired camp.
There was also 2009’s fair to middlin’Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which starred Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li and Chris Klein as Charlie Nash. The real Capcom film to beat, however, is 1994’sStreet Fighter II: The Animated Movie, a Gisaburo Sugii-directed and Group TAC-animated banger that hit all the right notes. So go ahead, Sakurai, do your bestandyour worst!
